Harry's Use of an Unforgivable Curse

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 96104

Jim Ferer wrote:
> The justice system does care if it's righteous anger or not - the
> state of mind of the actors always matters. If this was the Muggle
> world, the prosecutor probably wouldn't bring charges at all,

Del :
He would, if the law is as described : any use of an UC is
condemnable. After all, if Harry can be tried for breaking the
Underage Magic Restriction Rule or whatever it's called, he would most
definitely be charged for using an UC.

Jim :
> given the circumstances, and if he did, you'd have a heck of a time 
> finding a jury that would convict Harry of anything.  They'd be back 
> in twenty minutes.  

Del :
Tons of people get condemned each year for crimes they *obviously*
haven't committed, while tons of others are judged innocent of crimes
they have obviously committed. It depends on many things, including
the talent of the different lawyers and the general public opinion at
the time of the trial. Had DD been less talented, Harry *would* have
been condemned at his trial, even though he had *obviously* acted in
self-defence.

Jim :
> I disagree completely with your take on JKR's intentions in that
> scene.  The focus of that incident (which JKR did not overly 
> emphasize in the context of the entire sequence) was not that Harry 
> cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix, but that he couldn't bring 
> himself to agonize Bellatrix properly, even after all she did.  JKR 
> made sure we got the point by having Bellatrix explain it to us. 

Del :
In GoF, after learning of the UCs, Harry wishes he could use Crucio on
Snape, even though he had taken pity on the spider ! In OoP, Harry
uses Crucio even though a) he knows it's strictly forbidden, b) he's
gone through it himself, and c) Bella used it on Neville just minutes
before ! That to me shows that Harry's anger and hate are strong
enough to *corrupt* him, which is scary. I *do* wonder if we won't see
him managing to use Crucio efficiently on someone else he hates in the
next book. It's the logical progression I'm afraid. 

Jim :
>  JKR drew a tremendously stark contrast between Harry, who has the
> capacity to love that Voldemort knows not (Bellatrix doesn't seem
> clued in either) and psycho, sadistic Bellatrix, who darn near goes
> into ecstasy at the thought of excruciating brave, honest Neville, 
> the son of the couple she tortured into madness.

Del :
Harry doesn't strike me as loving during the whole MoM affair. In
fact, he goes after Bellatrix out of anger, hate and a thirst for revenge.
As for Bellatrix, may I point out that we don't know anything of her
back story ? In particular, we don't know what her relationships with
the Longbottoms were prior to the Torture scene. Frank Longbottom was
an Auror, and as such a direct enemy of Bellatrix the DE. He even had
the right to use the Cruciatus Curse on her, and we don't know if he
had any moral concerns such as Moody had. For all we know, Bellatrix
might have been taking her revenge on Frank when she tortured him !
Maybe she and Frank hated each other like James and Snape did, or like
Arthur and Lucius do, and we do know that Snape takes his revenge on
Harry and that Lucius took his on Ginny and would take it on any
Weasley kid he could. That's what you get when you let your anger and
hate control you, Harry should meditate about it.

Jim :
> No matter the stress Harry's under, his humanity and
> compassion emerge in the end in ways extraordinary for anyone, never
> mind a fifteen year old.  What halps to bring him back from his
> despair at losing Sirius? Pity and compassion for Luna, his friend. 

Del :
This is great, yes, but not extraordinary. Many kids who grieve find
relief in helping others, it's even the advice most often given to
grieving kids, to go and help someone else in need. Harry does show
great compassion, but no more than many average kids.

Jim :
> At the same time, JKR has no problem with the idea of rough justice,
> dealt out again to Draco and his goons on the train by Harry and the 
> DA's.

Del :
In my idea, this is more a proof that Harry hasn't yet learned his
lesson, he hasn't yet thought through the consequences of his actions
and feelings. He is very much like Sirius in this way, who even after
20 years or so, reacted to Snape in the very same way he reacted when
he was a teenager : he hadn't learned much about his and Snape's
psychology.

I'm afraid Harry will *have* to take responsibility for his negative
thoughts and desires (Cruciating anyone he's mad at) as well as his
actions, if he is to win over LV. After all, it is through a
*positive* emotion that he got rid of LV in the MoM. He has to learn
how to muster such positive emotions at will, and this is not through
letting his hate and anger run free.

Del